Election Tribunal: Court Declines To Halt Tinubu’s Inauguration, Fines Plaintiffs N15M for Bogus Lawsuit

A federal high court in Abuja has rejected a lawsuit that sought to prevent President-Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) , from being sworn in as president of Nigeria.

In a decision issued by Justice James Omotosho on Friday, the court ruled that it lacked the necessary authority to grant the petition that was included in an ex-parte application that three persons who called themselves as Concerned Nigerians presented before it.

Praise Isaiah, Paul Audu, and Anongu Moses, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/ 657/2023, claimed that Tinubu had falsely stated on oath in his form EC9 that he was not a citizen of another nation.

They made a case that the president-elect was in possession of the a Guinean passport which showed that he was infact a citizen.

Concerning the matter of educational qualifications, the plaintiffs informed the court that further research had shown that Tinubu was a female who had studied at Chicago University in the United States of America.

They also made claims that although the President-elect claimed to have been born in 1957, it was really determined that he was actually born in 1952.

In order to prevent Tinubu from taking office while cases before the Presidential Election Petition Court are being decided, the petitioners, among others, urged the court to order his incarceration. The also called for him to be restricted from partaking in any elective position for the next 10 years.

As a result, Justice Omotosho dismissed the case and gave each respondent a cost award of N10 million in Tinubu’s favor, N5 million in the APC’s favor, and another N1 million to be paid personally by the plaintiffs’ attorneys.

The court decided that, up to its ultimate liquidation, the cost assessed against the plaintiffs will accrue 10% interest annually.

Glamour Adah.

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